Florida’s new head coach Billy Napier traveled all over the country to put together his 2022 recruiting class in just two months.
While plenty of time was spent on the areas closest to Florida, Napier made sure to get out west and talk to some of the top undecided talents on the other side of the country. Those efforts appear to have paid off for Florida as Napier added Van Nuys, California athlete Arlis Boardingham to the class a week after national signing day.
“Arlis is a unique athlete,” Napier said at his Friday press conference. “If you watch the tape closely, he’s really playing receiver, inside backer and outside backer. He was 6-foot-3-and-a-quarter, 235 pounds on the visit and really has some grow potential.
“He can go run the full route tree as a receiver, and he has some play strength and physicality on defense. I think my experience would say that equate to a mismatch type of player.”
As Napier rattled off more positives about Boardingham, including an 11.4-second 100-meter time as a junior, it became obvious why the coach was willing to pursue someone on the other side of the country so intensely. Boardingham has a chance to make a difference on this roster, and Napier wasn’t willing to let him slip away to Oregon over proximity.
The same can be said about Napier’s other west coast signee, Andrew Savaiinaea. The three-star defensive lineman out of Washington held offers from Cal, Oregon and Kentucky before Florida got into the mix. At 6-foot-3-inches tall and 259 pounds, Savaiinaea has the kind of size needed to make it in the Southeastern Conference.
Napier considers Boardingham and Savaiinaea to both be high-character players with a ton of upside.
It’s not easy to put together a class of 18 recruits, especially when a coach is given just two months to evaluate, recruit and sign them. Florida may have had to go out of its comfort zone a bit, but the returns appear to be well worth the effort.
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